


The Great Apartment 4D New Year's Eve Party Hop

by cecilia095



Series: The Gang Goes On a Party Hop [2]
Category: New Girl
Genre: F/M, Gen, Just a Dare Where Nick/Schmidt End Up In a Closet, Multi, New Year's Eve, No Ugly Sweaters This Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 21:28:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5431391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cecilia095/pseuds/cecilia095
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I still don't get why we have to make elaborate plans on the fifth sexiest holiday of the year. Why can't we just stay in, get drunk, watch the ball drop, and color a goatee on Winston with Sharpie once he passes out?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Great Apartment 4D New Year's Eve Party Hop

**Author's Note:**

> I had so much fun writing the Christmas one, so I thought, "Why not?" and went ahead and wrote a New Year's Eve one, too. 
> 
> OH, and yes, I'm probably the first one to use the Winston/Aly tag, but like, I ship it, okay? Sue me. That whole, "Don't go falling in love with me" thing? Come ON.
> 
> Anyway... I hope you enjoy, and I hope all of your holidays are as wild as these clowns'. x

NEW YEAR'S EVE, 2:55 PM, THE LOFT

"Is it too early for booze?"

Jess rolls her eyes and through gritted teeth tells Nick to, "Put it down! Now!" and he obliges. "Thank you."

"So is that a 'yes'?"

"That's a: 'I paid thirteen dollars for that wine and we open it when I say we open it."

"I still don't get why we have to make elaborate plans on the fifth sexiest holiday of the year. Why can't we just stay in, get drunk, watch the ball drop, and color a goatee on Winston with Sharpie once he passes out?"

" _Because_ , Schmidt, we never do anything fun!" Jess whines, and Cece and Nick and Winston kind of nod in confirmation. "Last New Year's Eve we stayed inside and played a drunken round of Go Fish."

"That's right, we did, and I schooled all you bitches," Schmidt says, pointing at each and every one of his friends with narrowed eyes. "Go Fish!"

"Schmidt, we're going out, okay? Now go put on something different," Jess orders. "You look extra douche-y today."

"What? What's wrong with my outfit?" He looks down at himself and frantically untucks his flannel from his jeans, and Nick laughs and says, "That might've been it, man."

"Please, if anyone should change, it's obviously Winston! His outfit is clashing with everyone else's. Who wears  _black_?"

"Umm... Literally everyone in this room besides you, babe," says Cece, wasting no time tugging Schmidt by the arm and dragging him inside his bedroom. "I'll handle this," she says to Jess before shutting the door.

Jess turns to Nick and Winston, clapping her hands together. "Anyone else want to bitch and whine about our super awesome, super eventful New Year's Eve plans?"

"Kind of..."

"Nick!"

"Nope. Negatory."

" _Fan_ -tastic." 

—

NEW YEAR'S EVE, 3:22 PM, THE LIQUOR STORE DOWN THE BLOCK

"Do you see peach Chardonnay anywhere?" Jess is pretty sure she's looked up and down this aisle before, but she squints this time to make sure she didn't miss it.

"No, because that's not real liquor," Nick teases, and she's quickly regretting her decision to let him tag along with her.

"Ha-ha, very funny, Miller. Help me look."

Nick does a pivot and says, "I think I see it!" and Jess pivots too and says, "You do?" and the both of them sort of pivot into one another and a second later a whole bunch of bottles from the middle shelf come tumbling down.

"THIS IS MY  _NIGHTMARE_!"

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID, NICK!"

"WHAT  _I_ DID? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO HAD ME LOOKING FOR FAKE LIQUOR. GOD KNEW, AND THIS IS HIS PUNISHMENT TO US. TO  _YOU_. FOR DRINKING FAKE BOOZE."

"I CAN'T AFFORD TO PAY FOR EVERYTHING WE JUST KNOCKED DOWN, NICK."

"OH, AND YOU THINK  _I_ CAN? I DON'T EVEN HAVE A CHECKING ACCOUNT, JESSICA! YOU THINK SCHMIDT JUST MAKES FUN OF ME ABOUT THAT FOR NO REASON?"

"Just..." The girl behind the counter is shaking her head at the commotion in the middle of the store. "You don't have to pay for it, but I'm  _definitely_ not selling anything to either of you. Have a happy New Year, I  _guess_."

Nick is ready to bolt, and Jess just nods, her hands in the pockets of her peacoat.

"Oh, and tell your boyfriend he should  _really_ get a checking account."

They leave the store empty handed, and Jess flicks Nick on the arm a few hundred times as they walk back to the car. "You. Mess. Up.  _Everything._!"

"Me?! At least I drink real liquor, Jess. You might as well go to the supermarket and buy friggin' fruit juice if  _peach Chardonnay_ is what you're craving."

—

NEW YEAR'S EVE, 4:07 PM, EN ROUTE TO BIG SCHMIDT'S NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY

"Winston, my cousin said if you needed someone to kiss at midnight, he'd take one for the team," Schmidt says, and Winston's looking at him wide-eyed from the backseat, shaking his head.

" _I'm_ kissing Winston at midnight," Jess interrupts, and Cece and Schmidt and even Winston kind of laugh at her.

"No way, girl," Winston protests, "I'm kissing Aly at midnight. Done deal."

Schmidt blinks, then laughs. "Your - your cop partner Aly? The one who looks like a Keebler Elf with super good hair? _Please_ , for the love of God, Winston, if you're going to lie to entertain us, at least make them a little bit believable."

"Well, I guess I'm back to smooching Furguson," says Jess, and she's kind of frowning at the thought of kissing Winston's cat, but she's also kind of glad Nick hasn't chimed in with an, "I'll kiss ya'."

"Why don't you just kiss Nick?" Cece suggests, and Schmidt starts laughing. There it is. "I mean, I know you're still bitter about The Great Liquor Store Fiasco of 2015, but why not?"

"Because!" Jess and Nick both say in unison.

"Okay, okay!" Cece shouts back, throwing her hands up in defeat. "Sorry for suggesting it. Jess, I'll kiss you."

Schmidt's eyes widen in offense, and he takes one hand off the wheel to wag a finger at his fiancé. "No way. Two New Year's Eve's ago, I would've found that ridiculously hot. But this is our first New Year's Eve as a betrothed couple." He has a point, and Cece takes back her offer.

"Oh, and Winston, you promised you'd take a dramatic picture of Cece and I kissing at midnight, so call Aly and tell her you're going to have to cancel. Kiss her next year. Or never. I really could care less."

"Jess," Nick whispers her name, and Jess just raises a brow and says, "What, Nick?" (She hasn't talked to him since The Great Liquor Store Fiasco of 2015.)

"I could kiss you at midnight, you know," he says, and she's not sure if that's an offer, so she just shrugs. "What? Should I not have said that?"

—

NEW YEAR'S EVE, 4:31 PM, BIG SCHMIDT'S NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY

"Are we Irish Goodbye-ing?" asks Jess when they step foot into Big Schmidt's bachelor pad, complete with blaring rap music - (is that  _Drake_?) - and at least twenty flashing disco balls hanging from the ceiling. 

Cece gets one look at the place and presses her lips together, then nods. "We're  _definitely_ Irish Goodbye-ing. I'm giving this one," she pauses, pointing to her fiancé, who's too intrigued by the way his cousin's decorated the place, "twenty-five minutes. Tops."

Big Schmidt comes over to the group and gives each one of them shot glasses. "It's Fireball!" he exclaims, and only Nick and Winston take a glass. "Three of these and you'll be hunched over my toilet for the rest of the party. Cool, right?"

"Depends," says Schmidt, "is it an Antila Dual Flush with a soft close seat?"

"Are you seriously questioning your cousin about his  _toilet_ right now, Schmidt?" Nick asks, fresh off a shot of Fireball, blinking hastily a few times. "Whew. That was a good one. More, please!"

"Nope, he won't be having more," Jess says, whacking the tray Big Schmidt is holding out to Nick away. Nick pouts, but Jess just says, " _That's_ what you get for mocking my peach Chardonnay. You can drink at the next party."

—

NEW YEAR'S EVE, 5:26 PM, ROBBY'S ROCKIN' NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY

"Oh my God, are we  _seriously_ at Cece's ex-boyfriend's house right now?" Winston questions when Schmidt pulls in the driveway. "Dude, remind me why you're with  _him_ ," Winston says, nodding toward Schmidt, "when Robby lives in a crib  _this nice_."

"Oh, no, he doesn't live in the  _house_ ," she clarifies, "he actually lives in the basement. In a room. In the basement. Because he has roommates. Three of them."

"Now I get it."

Robby, Cece's too-tall, too-frumpy ex-boyfriend opens the front door and waves them all in. "Jess, nice to see you, still a ten. Nick, you look... Wait, are you already drunk? Whatever, man, happy New Year! Cece, Schmidt, this isn't weird at all, I'm really happy you're engaged, you deserved it, man. Good job. And... Wendell, was it? Nice to see you, man, looking... Well... you look the same as you did the last time I saw you, actually."

It takes everyone three seconds or less to find the drinks. Nick whips five beers out from a cooler and hands one to everyone. "Except you, Jess," he says with a snicker, taking back the beer he held out for her and pocketing it. "Designated Driver, remember?"

"What? No fair! I said the 23rd was my last time."

"Well, you lied, so..."

"I didn't  _lie_! You  _just now_ appointed me."

Nick sticks his tongue out at Jess, and she sticks her tongue out back at him, because they're thirty-something and they're still young enough to do that, okay? 

"Too bad, Jess. Why don't you go ask Robby if he has peach Chardonnay? You can put it in a sippy cup and everything."

"Ha-ha,  _hilarious_ , Miller."

"Is this about the liquor store?"

"No! Is this about the fact that I didn't answer you when you offered to kiss me at midnight tonight?"

Nick just raises an eyebrow at her. "I didn't - That wasn't - I didn't  _offer_ , I just - I just  _said_ -"

Schmidt walks in between their banter and makes a divider with his hands, shielding the both of them. "When you two are done aimlessly flirting in the middle of Robby's basement, we need you. It's truth or dare time."

—

NEW YEAR'S EVE, 5:38 PM, STILL ROBBY'S ROCKIN' NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY

"And the bottle lands on... Schmidt!" Robby calls out, and then he asks, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare, my man, what else would I pick?"

"I dare you to go in the closet with Nick for seven minutes," Robby says, like he didn't even have to think about it. 

"W-What - No - I - Can I pick truth?"

"' _What else would I pick_ _?_ '" Nick mocks, wrinkling his nose.  _  
_

"I wouldn't be laughin' buddy," says Robby. "You're going in there with him."

"No, but I - Can't Wendell go?"

Fifteen seconds later, Nick and Schmidt are knees-to-chest in a closet that reeks of Hot Cheetos and dirty gym socks.

"So, what's up, man?"

"'What's  _up_ ', Schmidt? What's  _up_ is the fact that people think we're boning in here."

"So we just - Let's make a few - We can do like, the kiss-y noises, you know, the - 'Muah, muah, smooch, smooch' thing."

"The 'muah, muah, smooch, smooch' thing? Are you out of your mind?!"

Schmidt shrugs. "Probably. Nick, we can't ring in the New Year in this sweaty basement."

"I know. We're Irish Goodbye-ing the second we get out of this closet."

"Agreed, let's do that, but are you  _sure_ we shouldn't just do the 'Muah, muah, smooch, smooch' thing, just - just a few little noises -"

"' _A few little noises_ '?! Absolutely fucking not, man, absolutely fucking not."

—

NEW YEAR'S EVE, 6:14 PM, P. GENZ'S RESIDENCE

They let Jess do the talking when they get to the door. "Okay, so, I know we RSVP'ed 'no', but your parties are always so great, and someone on Facebook posted that you had a minibar  _and_ a keg, and we just couldn't miss that, Paul."

He's probably floored that five people who dipped at his last party are standing at his doorstep basically begging him to drink his cheap booze and watch a ball drop with him and a bunch of his friends at midnight.

"Umm." Paul looks confused. "I'm not having a party. Everyone RSVP'ed 'no', not just you guys."

"Oh."

"Um."

"That sucks, P. Genz."

—

NEW YEAR'S EVE, 6:48 PM, THE LOFT

"Okay, so Paul Genzlinger might've let us down, but we still have -" Schmidt pauses, because he's scrolling through contact after contact, trying to find a place for the five of them to ring in the New Year together. "Hmm. She's on a boat," he says, scrolling, "he's in Dubai. She... Oh, I'm not talking to  _her_ anymore; she insulted my tie at work the other day. Forget it! This is useless. The only friends I have are you dingbats." 

"Same."

"Yeah."

"Same here."

"Pretty much."

There's a knock at the door, and they all have to kind of look around to make sure they're not a man down.

"I got it," Cece says, racing over to the door and swinging it open. "Aly, hey, you're -"

"Here early, I know." 

Winston comes to the door and shoos Cece away. 

"You texted me to cancel, but I figured I'd just come here anyway. Annoying, right?"

"One of your more annoying qualities, yeah, but -" He waves her in and then closes the door. "We have no plans."

"To be honest, I selfishlywanted someone to kiss at midnight, so."

Winston leads her into the living room and just says, "I almost got stuck kissing  _Jess_."

Schmidt sighs and pulls a deck of cards off of the center of the dining room table. "Go Fish, anyone?"

Jess rolls her eyes, and then she sits down next to Schmidt and snatches the deck out of his hands. "I'm shuffling. I'm the shuffler."

"Jess,  _I'm_ the shuffler, I'm always the shuffler!" Nick protests, taking a seat at the table and attempting to grab the deck from Jess.

"Welcome to our home!" Jess says to Aly, and then gestures for her to have a seat. "We play Go Fish on New Year's Eve and draw on your partner with Sharpie after midnight."

—

NEW YEAR'S DAY, 2:06 AM, (STILL) THE LOFT

"Whoa, whoa, holy shit guys, wake up, we missed it!" Cece wipes the drool (or is that booze?) off of the corner of her mouth and shakes Schmidt awake, then Jess.

Jess panics. "We missed midnight?! How?!"

Aly wakes up from her spot on the couch next to Winston and points to four empty bottles of Jose Cuervo. " _That_ might be how."

"My photo op!" Schmidt says, freaking out in his pillow fort on the living room floor. "Quick, Cece, go grab the camera. We'll recreate the moment."

"Schmidt, no, I smell like straight up tequila and I'm  _wrecked_. Next year, babe."

"Guys, come on," Jess says, pushing the sheet she's covered in - (how did that get there?) - off of her. "We can still do it. I'll grab a confetti popper from my room and set a timer on my phone."

Nick laughs. "She has those just... laying around."

Sure enough, Jess comes out into the living room with two confetti poppers (they were her last ones) and her phone in hand, setting a countdown timer for ten seconds. 

"It's not the same," Schmidt whines, but Jess tells him to stop being a baby, and that it's all his fault because he's the one who brought out the tequila. "Fine. Just set the stupid timer."

"TEN, NINE..."

"You know, this is super nice, Jess," Nick says, and Jess just shushes him and says, "FIVE, FOUR..."

The timer on her phone goes off and everyone yells, "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" even though it's 2:14 AM.

Cece and Schmidt get their kiss, and Aly leans into Winston and smooches him on the mouth the second the timer on Jess' phone goes off, and then there's Jess and Nick, kind of just... standing there. Nick's got his hands in his pockets, and Jess is holding an empty confetti popper and her cell phone.

"Okay," Schmidt says with a gasp once he pulls away from Cece, "now kiss me again, and make Winston take a picture of it, and we'll just - We'll say we took it at midnight."

Cece runs a hand through her messy hair and sighs. "Fine. The things I do for you. Don't put this on Facebook! I look like a damn mess and my mom will  _kill_ me. She stalks my Facebook daily."

Aly and Winston are busy staging the perfect kiss - ' _A little to the left. No. Other left, Schmidt, are you dumb?_ ' ' _Okay, now grab her butt, but don't look like you're trying too hard, man_.' ' _Okay, Cece, I know you said you were_ _wrecked_ _, but girl, you look_ dead _. How much did you drink?_ ' - and Schmidt's all, "Take at  _least_ five so we have a selection to choose from, and apply a good filter, Winston, not a crappy one."

Jess turns to the only other person in the room who isn't occupied. "Sooo..." 

Nick bites his lip and says, "So..." back to Jess.

"Happy New Year, Nick."

"Jess, come on, not even one kiss?"

"I don't - I don't want - I don't know."

"Oh, come  _on_ , for the love of God, just  _do it_ , you wusses!" Schmidt shouts, interrupting his golden photo op to yell at his best friends. 

"Fine, but only because we  _literally_ had no one else to kiss."

"Fine, if that's what you have to tell yourself," Nick says with a smirk.

He leans in and cups Jess' cheek, and okay, that's a  _little_ more than a supposed-to-be-midnight kiss, Miller, but she doesn't say anything, just closes her eyes and kisses him back. They kissed a week back at Paul's Christmas party, but that was Spin the Bottle, and it was quick, and it was also a  _dare_ , and this... isn't. 

It feels like minutes until Nick pulls away, but when he does, they're both breathing a little heavy, and Jess' head is spinning - (probably the tequila, probably a little bit of Nick).

"Happy New Year, Jess." 


End file.
